A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that exchange data and share resources. In a packet-based network, the computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into small blocks called packets. Devices within the network, such as routers and switches, forward the packets through the network from a source device to a destination device. The destination device extracts the data from the packets and assembles the data into its original form.
In a distributed network management system for a network, devices within the network may be geographically dispersed and are typically managed by a plurality of managers. A centralized network manager (“central manager”) may manage regional network managers (“regional managers”) that manage the network devices. The regional managers are distributed across the network, with each of the regional managers generally deployed geographically closer to the devices that they manage or, alternatively or additionally, responsible for a logical portion of the network such as an edge network of a service provider core.